Piako County Council.

Te Aroha News, Volume XVII, Issue 22514, 29 March 1902, Page 3

Piako County Council.

The raonihly meeting of the above Council was held at Moninsville 3resferday. Pres, nt : Messrs Chepmell (in the eh ir), Cox, ETari i on, McCaw, Ring, Jackson acd Bucklaud. Minutes read and confir ued. T> ward and outward correspondence dealt with. Tetter read from "Robt MCr-lcie, re roads, gates, etc., at Wuiraltau. — Letter received. Tie-adjusting Ridings —This matter ■was gone into, i.ut it was decided that the representation remain as at present. P rem ran Skddon's Testimonial. — The snb-cription list was handed round the table. Bridges. —lt was left with Cr Harrison to order timber for re-decking four bridges, the timber to be all firstclass. Cattle And Horses on Roads. — (Several complain’s wore received a gain s' bulls and stallions being allowed to roam at large, causing considerable damage.—The chairman said such a state of things sh mi l not exist. He thought tl j e animals should be driven to the nearest pound, and the owners, if found, sued for a penalty. Foreman M a hood was appointed to attend to the matter, with full authority to do anything within the powers of the law to put a stop to the nuisance. That Plough —The light singlefurrow plough, purchased s 'me time arro, and which proved incapable of doing its work, is making history for itself. The plough is now to be altered ; Foreman Wa'tam, who had a narrow escape «fbeing the owner <>f this mueh-talkod-of implement, has been instructed to get the handles lengthened.

. Waiorongomai • Tramway. The manager of tho tramway, A. Edwards, fo-warded In's usual monthly repart, which, showed there had been no quartz, sent .down the line ; with the exception of two trucks frmn the Oad3Han mine for Messrs Gravin and Newsome. The work of repairing between Butler and May Queen Spurs is being ruoceeded with. The lute s‘orm did very little damage to the line or the horse track ; a small tree fell across the. track, which was at once removed ; several small slips also took pluce. Th« top track is dangerous, at the point where Mr Hardy has a tip across the track ; it is not safe for a horse to go up that way whip this stoff is on fh" road. —The matter of having the nuisance complained of removed was left with the tramway committee. A suggestion was made that Mr Hardy be asked to contribute half cost of keeping a man on to look after the tramway, during the time it was lying idle. —Cr Oox said even if the tram remained idle a person wou'd bo required to keep it in r. pair. Unless rome me is left in charge it would go to the bad during the winter months, lie said very little work was being d moat present but they hoped for bettor things in the future.—Or Han •ison remarked it would be as w 11 if the present proprietary had not commenced <>perati »ns at all.—Or Oox said tha*- if Mr Mur .y had not started operations, the district would have b en practically abandoned for the pfr.st tw • y--ars. If was resolved to keep Edwards employed on the tramway. Cable Communications. —A telegram was received from the Postmaster Qsaeral, advising ihe Council of the laying of the cable between New Zealand, Norfolk Island and Australia The clerk was instructed to write a congratulatory letter to Sir Joseph Ward. Thumps in’s Track.—The Chief Engineer, Wellington, wrote acknowledging receipt of leti.er of 2(>th ult., urging that the sum of £IOO be made available for the improvement of Thompson’s Tract. The Minister of L inds instructed him to reply regrertiug the money caunot at present be authorised. Briars, etc —W. E Bruce, of Auckland, wrote stating that he had made arrangements for removing the briars from the road fronting his Himrera property. . Balance Sheet. — The Auditor General returned the Courity balance sheet for half year ended 30th Sept., 1901. certified to us correct. Okoroire. Te Papa Road. —J. Me Caw, on behalf of the Assets B ard, wrote in reply to a request from the Council, expressing its willingness to pay «>ne third cost of deepening and cleaning about 33 chains of drain on this road— L. Callaghan, of the Okovorire Hotel, forwarded a similar letter.

Request for Gravel. —McNicol and Co., Auctioneers, wrote, asking permission to take three to four hundred yards of gravel and clay from county pit for the purpose of improving the condition'of Waitoa sale yards. Applications are prepared to- take the face of pit gravel and clay mixed.— Resolved that permission be granted at a reduction of one-half charge, the gravel to be lemo.ved under Foreman Wattam’s supervision.

An Unregistered Dog.—The Deg Tax Collector reported that a certain owner of a sporting* dog, declined to take out a collar fur it. The owner in question resides on the county boundary, and »Aid lie usually regiatered'the dog at Te Arohe. —The Chairman said tbi* -would not be sufficient, ev-n if the owner had taken a collar out in Te Aroha, he would have to register the dog in Piako County.—The registrar •was instructed to take'action if nocosMrjr.

Hospital and Charitable: Aid L’litt secretary of the Waikato Hospital :i,d Charitable Aid Board wro e requesting payment of the sum of £634 10s, amount allocated to the B'ako County Council f <r uospital and charitable aid purposes for the year ending :»Ist March, 1903 The following are the amounts of each conciibuting iocal authority

Closing Road at Walton. — It will be remembered that at the last meeting of the Council the Matamati Road Board wrote asking for Council’s consent to the closing of a road intersecting Mr E. D. Murray’s property and leading to the Waihou river. At a meeting of ratepayers it was pointed out that the proposal to close the road had been carried by 15 votes to 1. Mr Geo. Given objected to the proposal. Since last meeting the matter had been placed before the Council’s colicitor, who forwarded a lengthy ruling on the question as to whether or not the road could be legally closed. A petition was also read from Geo. Given, John Latimer, E. Mojouey and others objecting to the closing of the road. Most of the signatories have taken up land m the adjoining blocks to the road in question, and therefore were not given an opportunity to vote against the closing of the road. Mr Given was present at the meeting, armed with plans, &c., setting forth the exact position of affairs, and pointing out the injustice that would be done lohim if the road was closed, it would cut off the water tor his cattle. Some time was spent by the Council in minutely examining the plans, and endeavour ing to find out how settlement would be effected in future if the road was closed. Tho Chairman said thereiwas a great deal of justice in what Mr Given stated. He moved that the decision of the ratepayers bo not confirmed. This wus seconded by Cr Harrison and carrie I, only Crs McCaw and Cox voting against the motion. Foremen’s Reports. — Foreman Wattam reported that he had let a contract to clean Thomson’s drain at 5-s per chain. Inconsequence of the watercress and weeds growing silt had accumulated, wi'lx the result that the water overflowed; had also let 12 chains at 3s alongside of road between Thomson's and Brown’s properties, to prevent water fl >wing over the road. About 12 chains of drain requires cutting through Heiries’ paddock iu order to cany water off tho road, which stands in the water-tables for about 3 chains after' heavy rain; the cost will be about 2s ltd per chain; a set of pipes will ’have to bo placed across the road at the same place. Thames-Waikato road - The- Rock bridge is erected, .but the approaches are not quite finished. Nothing has been done lo the trees along the avenue road; the danger of these trees increases as winter approaches On Saturday a tree fell across the road near the hot 1, which was at once removed. G. Goodfellow has a number ~f trees projecting our. on the road ; so far instructions to remove them had been ignored. About 200 yards of sand needs putting on road at Waihou, from. OribVs corner eastwards. The work <<n Th unpson’s track has proceeded satisfactorily; travellers appear highly ptoaeed with the work d6ne. The various suggestions in the report were authorised to be carried out. Foreman Mahood reported that since iast meeting he had carried out the most uecessary repairs to the various roads in his district. On arrival of road machine the forming on TuurangaCambridge road, near Hinuera was completed. The drain opposite Karapira creamery, -which he referred to at the last meeting is still closed. The gorse on the lAchftold-Te Aroha road fronting Mrs Howard’s property is not ■ yet removed.

£ 8 d Piako Count/ 634 10 0 Waikato County ... 516 10 0 W >ipa County 399 0 0 Kaplan Co mtv 286 10 0 Hamilton H trough... 107 5 0 Cambridge Borough To Aroha Borough... 96 86 0 5 0 0 Total 212 5 0